[log] invasion phase iv: the beginning of the end

[callmelegion]

Who: Pain, Naruto, Sasuke, Madara, Itachi (to be joined by Cloud, Minato, Kakashi, and Yukari)
Where/When: Outskirts of Konohagakure; August 5th
Status: Closed, ongoing
Style: Action
Warnings: WAR - also, angst due to death. Possibly in editing stage, like the last log?
Other information: Continued from here.

Note: For the music attached, if it's

Comments

[windsawakening]

People’s lives are shaped by more than their experiences.

[Because if Naruto’s life was to be shaped on his own experience then--]

They’re shaped by their expectations too.

[By things like hope and faith, if one is willing enough to try them on for size instead of rage and pain. Nagato blames his past. Nagato blames the system. Nagato blames Konoha and so this is why he is as he is. And even now Naruto still believes Nagato has the strength to be more than that and he does not know if it is Senjutsu or something else, something more inherent in him. But it doesn’t matter, there is hope. Oh, it is tenuous at best, but it is there.

Naruto’s own expectations…

A pause. A breath-

Oh.

Two men looked through prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw stars.

Maybe there is a glimmer of understanding after all.

All things hedge on belief, at the end of the day. Nagato has his, shaped by his life and maybe by his own expectations. But those beliefs have shaped his world too, and how he sees it. His world has become filtered through his expectations, and all he can see of the world is through this filter of expectation and so if Nagato believes; the system cannot be trusted, people cannot be trusted, then Nagato will always seek the evidence out that support his beliefs.

… in the same way Naruto does.

And so, belief influences the choices he makes, the direction he chooses to take- Everything.]

You’ve made your choice. I’ve made mine.

[A small nod. Yes, Understanding here. Words will not be enough. Expectation is what shapes reality, and then choice and action.

It all begins with belief.

But still…]

I hope…

That someday, those wounds of yours heal. Those wounds that idealism and life have given you.

[And he meets those eyes as he says it, and he means it past everything else and the blood that will be shed here. And for a moment he even smiles, sadly. Hope… a little ironic to be hoping still.]

And I hope that this naïve boy can teach you something anyway.

[The time for talking is done, and Naruto shifts his stance again, waiting, expectant, and unmoving. ]